Last night I'm convinced that there were turf wars going on with the packs of neighborhood dogs. At least that's how it seemed through out most of the night last night. I eventually got up and put in some earplugs but they didn't help that much. From now on I'm not going to complain when Tobey starts barking at a squirrel outside because his bark is nothing compared those dogs outside! So needless to say I woke up a little bleary eyed this morning. It rained overnight so the smog wasn't quite so bad this morning. I walked over to the Fistula Hospital and met up with Annette and her children along with John Little from last night for a ride out to Desder Menda (Joy Village). As we were turning left a truck came alongside ... read more

Well, let's try this again. I had day two of my trip all written out and then curses, when i went to publish it is when the computer froze and lost all of my information. Technology.... After a great night's sleep I was up and walking to the Fistula Hospital by 8:30 am. The hospital is only one and a half blocks away from the Union hotel so it couldn't be any better. Looking outside my window this morning confirmed that i am in a third world country with the view of the scenery as well as all of the construction and other noises that were going on. Bethel, the PR person for the Fistula Hospital sat with me for about an hour explaing to me about the hospital. They have room for approx 100 patients ... read more

With one day of work left my trip is beginning to feel like a reality. I'm waiting for the English textbooks to arrive tomorrow so that I can finish packing my second suitcase and hope that I'm not over 50 lbs on this one. The first suitcase I have contains all of the scarves, jewelry and medicine that I will be bringing with me to the Fistula hospital. I also packed my carry on that will contain all of my clothes and essentials for the trip. I'm proud of the fact that I'm only taking a carry on for over two weeks worth of travel. I did that because I thought it was more important to use the big suitcases for the supplies that I wanted to bring to both Ethiopia and the Congo Its amazing ... read more